Enquiries Instead of Copy Requests

Mastercard and Visa often use copy requests to gain more information from the merchant. Similarly, American Express makes enquiries with the merchant.

Usually, American Express is able to settle all transaction disputes based on the in-house information. In the rare situations where the financial institution doesn’t have the necessary information, an enquiry will be issued to the merchant.

The merchant can respond in one of four ways:

Authorise the chargeback.

Issue a credit or supply evidence of a previously-issued credit.

Issue a partial credit (and evidence to support the reduced refund amount).

Provide sufficient evidence to validate the original charge.To validate the charge, the merchant will need to provide sufficient evidence.

Four outcomes are possible when merchants are issued enquiries:

The enquiry response successfully settles the dispute in the merchant's favour.

A chargeback is issued because the merchant failed to respond to the enquiry or didn't reply within the time limit.

A chargeback is issued because the merchant replied to the enquiry with inaccurate or insufficient documentation.

A chargeback is issued because the merchant authorised it.

Immediate Chargebacks

In most cases, American Express will issue an immediate chargeback to the merchant; few situations require an enquiry. In fact, if a merchant experiences high enquiry rates, American Express will advance the dispute process by issuing immediate chargebacks to that merchant. Enquiries will no longer be sent.

The enquiry process is also bypassed if the merchant has been added to one of the American Express chargeback monitoring programs. Enrollment in these chargeback programs usually results from elevated fraud or chargeback rates.

Disputes and Representment

Merchants who process American Express transactions have very few representment options. Usually, the only chance merchants have to prove their case is during the enquiry process. In most cases, a chargeback is considered the final outcome in cardmember disputes.

There are certain situations where it is possible to request a chargeback reversal, though the ability to fight a chargeback is limited.

Reasoning for Cardmembers’ Claims

Like the card associations, American Express chargebacks are accompanied by reason codes. These reason codes explain why the consumer had a grievance with the transaction.

American Express offers the following tips for preventing chargebacks:

Process credit immediately and let cardmembers know when they will receive the refund

Share the return or exchange policy and any other terms of service before completing the checkout process

Ask for the Card Identification Number (the card security code printed above the embossed numbers on the face of the card)

Use the Automated Address Verification service (American Express’s version of AVS)

While these suggestions will help, The Chargeback Company has a much more detailed chargeback prevention strategy. Contact us today; we’ll help you prevent all types of transaction disputes, including American Express chargebacks.

Prevent Chargebacks.

Fight Fraud.

Recover Revenue.

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